Until last month, the Schweitzer-Mauduit plant on Main Street stored hundreds of thousands of pounds of chlorine gas for bleaching -- enough to pose a threat to 1.1 million people who live nearby if there were ever an accident or a leak. But last month, the mill reported that it will start using a process that generates chlorine dioxide as the plant needs it, meaning almost no chlorine gas needs to be kept on-site.

The switch eliminates the mill's risk to its employees and the community, according to a study of the nation's paper mills released today by NJPIRG. Schweitzer-Mauduit was the only paper mill in the state considered to pose such a threat.

"It's great news for Spotswood. It's great news for New Jersey in general," said Abigail Field, an advocate for NJPIRG. "We're not usually a state that gets to crow about our companies being leaders in this area."

The mill, which produces paper for cigarettes, now stores such a minimal amount of chlorine gas in its pipeline that it does not even have to file a risk management plan with the Environmental Protection Agency, Field said.